Domain Specificity of Trilingual Teachers’ Verbal Self-Concepts
Author(s)
Yeung, Alexander Seeshing; Wong, Edwin King Por
Abstract
Teachers from Hong Kong (N = 437) responded to English, math, Cantonese, and Mandarin self-concept items. Confirmatory factor analysis found good support for the distinction of 4 domain-specific self-concepts. English self-concept had a low correlation with Mandarin self-concept (r = .09) and a negative correlation with Cantonese self-concept (r = -.19). Cantonese and Mandarin, which presumably pertain to a single Chinese language domain, were also negatively correlated (r = -.11). These very low correlations did not allow the 3 language constructs to form a single verbal factor. The results challenge the assumption of a single verbal self-concept construct for speakers of multiple languages. For trilinguals, the verbal self-concept constructs can be very distinct and unrelated to each other. 3 Tables, 1 Figure, 1 Appendix, 50 References.
